Hospital association launches smoking cessation program

Doctors' advice on healthy living carries more impact when they practice what they preach. That's why the Louisiana Hospitals Association's smoking cessation program for doctors, nurses and other hospital employees could set a great example for patients.

LHA just announced the second phase of its Smart Choices, Better Health Hospitals Campaign, which focuses on a quit-smoking plan for doctors, nurses and other hospital employees. The campaign also involves helping hospitals that haven't done so yet to become completely tobacco-free campuses.

It's a smart idea to have health care professionals lead the way.

Last year's campaign centered on nutrition and health, said Ken Alexander, vice president of quality and regulatory activities. During that program, health care professionals participated in diet and exercise programs, many with a goal of weight loss in mind. Alexander said he lost 100 pounds during last year's campaign.

This year's effort is one that is close to his own heart. Alexander is a respiratory therapist by trade and a former smoker.

It's hard these days to not know the dangers of smoking. The message has been broadcast loud and clear over the last couple of decades about the numerous health risks associated with smoking. Doctors and nurses know those risks, and many of them treat patients who suffer from the effects.

It's hard to believe that they could be among those who are still ignoring the health warnings printed right on the packages of cigarettes. And yet, some of them smoke.

For many, it was a matter of making a choice at an earlier point in their lives, Alexander said, but now, the addiction is a barrier to quitting. But the LHA, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living, a nonprofit anti-smoking organization, will give member hospitals the tools they need to help employees and the larger community to finally kick the habit.

At the same time, LHA will concentrate on making all Louisiana hospitals tobacco-free. And that includes tobacco in all forms - not just smoking.

Here in Lafayette and in Opelousas, all the major hospitals are already tobacco-free campuses. That includes Lafayette General Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, Regional Medical Center of Acadiana and Women's & Children's Hospital in Lafayette, and Opelousas General Health System in Opelousas.

And that sets the right tone for a facility dedicated to helping people get well and stay well.

Older residents of Acadiana can still remember a time when smoking was permitted inside hospitals, and many can recall entering patients' rooms to find billows of smoke. But no more.

When the medical community learned about the extreme health risks secondhand smoke poses, smoking was banned from hospital interiors.

Most hospitals have some sort of restrictions in place, Alexander said

But the goal LHA has set for its member hospitals throughout the state goes one step further: No tobacco use anywhere on the premises. No smoking lounge. No smoker's gazebos. Not even in the parking lot.

That is an ambitious goal, but a worthwhile one - one in which health care professionals can lead the charge.

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Hospital association launches smoking cessation program

Doctors' advice on healthy living carries more impact when they practice what they preach. That's why the Louisiana Hospitals Association's smoking cessation program for doctors, nurses and other